best wishes for santa barbara residents

[greenrig]

heart goes out to all those who are dealing with the fire in santa barbara county. i was just camping with my new to me flying cloud on the very scenic San Marcos pass at Lake Cachuma just last week. i cant believe the fire is blazing right through there.
seems like the fire will burn into next week, if anyone has updates on traffic to and from the the Pismo vintage trailer rally, maybe this would be a good spot. i would imagine 101 and 154 is closed at spots and possibly 5 due to smoke.

[greenrig]

154 or san marcos pass is closed. the traffic is open on 101 and traffic is a bit hectic (stop and go)with looky lou's, evacuees and friday traffic doesnt help. i heard from someone who passed through around 2pm today.

[airdrmr]

Thanks, greenrig. Santa Barbara is not a fun place to be right now. Lots of homes gone, lots of smoke and ash. The winds are pretty calm right now and everyone is crossing their fingers that we won't have another night of Santa Ana winds and out-of-control burning.

I can confirm that Highway 154 is closed. We just drove by it. I'm guessing probably won't be open tomorrow either as the fire appears to be burning on both sides of it as I write this. So far, the flames have not crested the mountains and they are still burning in a 5-mile swath along the Santa Barbara side.

The firecrews have been amazing and my heartfelt thanks goes out to them. I heard over 2,500 personnel are working on the fire, along with 12 fixed wing aircraft, a bunch of helicopters and a DC-10 (who have been making drops non-stop all day.)

Lake Cachuma is open and safe, but if you're coming from the South, you'll have to go around on the 101 to get to it. Traffic North through Santa Barbara is moving along fine as of 6:30 pm tonight.

Happy and safe silver travels,

[Luminati]

Meredith! I've been wondering how you're faring...I know it's scary!
Our son, Julian, lives in a house on Moodoc in Goleta-about 2 blocks from the evacuation zone and of course, we're worried.

We're holding our breath for all of you. Take care!
Karin and Mark

[airdrmr]

Hey Karin and Mark. Let Julian know if he gets evacuated tonight and needs a place to crash, he's welcome at our house. We just happen to have a comfy silver spare room available . I see that the Red Cross shelter at DP high school is full, although I think they opened another one at UCSB.

My Mom lives just a few blocks from Modoc so we are keeping a close watch on that area. We moved my Mom to my sister's house in Santa Ynez because she has a horse in the backyard and some health problems, we didn't want to take any chances.

If the winds pick up again tonight, it will be scary, but the fire crews are working soooo hard. I can hear the water dropping helicopters buzzing around as I write this....

[Luminati]

Julian said that some of the flames have doubled in size in a matter of minutes.
He thanks you for your generous offer and may have to take you up on it.

I will PM you to give you his phone number. He has a car (packed and ready to go). Thanks so much!

Karin and Mark